Elizabeth Anne Yarnold (born 31 October 1988) is a British former skeleton racer. She won consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2014 and 2018, making her the only British Winter Olympian to have won multiple gold medals.
Yarnold was initially a heptathlete; she was inspired to take up the sport after watching Denise Lewis at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.[10] In 2008, Yarnold took part in UK Sport's Girls4Gold talent search scheme,[11] where UK Sport identified skeleton as a good option.[11][12] She began competing in 2010, winning her first official race in the Europa Cup at Igls in November. The next day she had her second win.[1]
In 2012, Yarnold won her first World Cup event in St. Moritz,[13] and followed this by winning the final leg of the series in Calgary.[14] She then won the World Junior Championships in Innsbruck.[15] She finished the 2012/13 season in 9th position in the world rankings.[16] and became a bronze medallist in the senior World Championships in 2012.[1] In the World Cup meeting in Park City, she won the silver medal,[17] and she also won a bronze in the meeting in Whistler.[18] At the 2013 World Championships, she finished in fourth position.[19]
Her sled is named Mervyn after a former colleague of hers.[16]
2013/14 season
Yarnold won the opening race of the World Cup in Calgary after her rival Noelle Pikus-Pace was disqualified for having an illegal piece of tape on her sled. Yarnold had initially finished second but was promoted to first by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation following a post-race inspection.[20] She then won silver and bronze medals respectively at subsequent meetings of the competition in Park City and Lake Placid which were both won by Pikus-Pace.[21][22] Yarnold won a second meeting held in Lake Placid, before securing another victory in Winterberg.[23][24] She also finished on the podium at St. Moritz after finishing runner-up to Pikus-Pace.[25] Yarnold secured overall World Cup victory at the last race of the season with a ninth-place finish in Königssee. It was the first time in eight World Cup events that she missed out on a top-3 finish but she finished the series 152 points clear of second-placed Pikus-Pace.[26]
Yarnold then won the Olympic gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, finishing 0.97 seconds clear of Pikus-Pace. She set the fastest time on each of the four runs and set new track records on her first and third runs. Yarnold's gold was the tenth gold medal ever achieved by a British athlete in the history of the Winter Olympics. Her victory also meant that Great Britain retained the women's skeleton title following Amy Williams success in 2010. A "chuffed" Yarnold declared: "My fourth run I was totally relaxed and enjoyed it. It was a bit of a messy one but I'm just so thrilled I got myself here after five years hard work."[10][6] At the end of the year, she was nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.[27]
2014 Winter Olympics
2014/15 season
In December, Yarnold won a gold medal at the season-opening World Cup meeting in Lake Placid; her first competitive appearance since becoming Olympic champion.[28] A few days later, she was forced to withdraw from the next World Cup event in Calgary after experiencing dizziness,[29] but returned the following month, to secure a silver medal in Altenberg.[30] She then claimed victory at Königssee to move into fifth position in the overall World Cup standings.[31] Yarnold claimed her third and fourth victories of the World Cup season at the meetings in Igls,[32] and Sochi; the victory at Sochi coming on the same track that she had won her Olympic gold on a year earlier. She finished the World Cup in second position overall, losing out to Janine Flock in the standings by 20 points.[33]
Following her gold medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2013-14 World Cup success, Yarnold completed a career grand slam in the 2014/15 season with victories in both the European and World Championships. Competing at Igls, she became European Champion for the first time in February 2015. She beat Janine Flock into second place, with her success coming one day after her World Cup win on the same track. After the race, Yarnold revealed: "Being European champion was a huge goal of mine. I desperately wanted to add that crown."[34] The following month, she won her maiden World Championship, breaking the track record at Winterberg twice in the course of her victory.[35] She won the event by a margin of 0.67 seconds from Jacqueline Lölling, and afterwards, Yarnold proclaimed: "I can't quite take it all in. It's all I ever wanted."[19]
In September 2015, Yarnold announced that she would take a year-long break and miss the 2015/16 skeleton season due to burnout. Describing herself as "emotionally fatigued", she explained that it was "the right time to refresh, take stock and come back even more motivated for the future".[36]
2016/17 season
After missing a year of competition, Yarnold finished fourth on her return at the 2016-17 World Cup event at Whistler in December 2016.[37] Two weeks later, she won a silver medal in the meeting at Lake Placid to take the lead at the top of the overall standings.[38] This was her only podium finish during the World Cup series,[39] and she finished the competition in ninth position overall.[40] In the World Championships held at Königssee in February 2017, Yarnold won the bronze medal. Reflecting on the result, she stated: "This is where I want and need to be - and is a major stepping stone."[39][41]
2017/18 season
Having suffered from dizzy spells for several years, in September 2017, Yarnold disclosed that she had been diagnosed with a vestibular disorder which affects the inner ear. She explained that the condition sometimes leaves her disoriented while racing but was not career threatening.[42] In the opening event of the 2017-18 World Cup in Lake Placid, she claimed the bronze medal.[43] Her form then dipped as she recorded finishes of 13th and 23rd at subsequent World Cup events.[44] She arrived at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang suffering from a number of health concerns. These included a chest infection, which worsened to the point that she was having trouble speaking and breathing, and on the first day of competition she suffered from dizziness due to a flare-up of her vestibular condition.[45]
In the competition, Yarnold took the lead with a new track record on the first run, but her medical issues left her on the verge of pulling out of the competition.[46] She then fell to third place overall after the second run, one tenth of a second behind overnight leader Jacqueline Lölling. Her health improved for the second day, and she subsequently moved up to second after the third run, two hundredths of a second behind new leader Janine Flock.[46][47] On the final run she set another track record to clinch the gold medal by almost half a second.[48][49][46] She subsequently stated that she considers her second Olympic gold to be her greatest achievement.[2] She became the first British Winter Olympian to win two gold medals.[50] At the end of 2018, she was nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year.[51] Yarnold was also the flag bearer for Great Britain at the Pyeongchang opening ceremony.[52]
Post-Pyeongchang activities and retirement
Just weeks after the conclusion of the 2018 Olympics, Yarnold underwent surgery to remove a tumour in her knee which had been discovered six months before the Games. Following this, her use of crutches worsened the back pain that she had suffered for several years; this was diagnosed as being the result of two displaced discs. She was left struggling to walk and was prescribed powerful painkillers for several months.[45] She subsequently underwent a successful operation on her back in July 2018.[2]
In September 2018, Yarnold stated that she was planning to return to training,[53] but the following month she announced her retirement from the sport. She said that she had lived the dream and desired a fresh challenge. She began mentoring young athletes and working for the British Olympic Association's athlete commission.[2]
On 1 May 2016, Yarnold married her partner James, who worked as a sled designer for the British team.[55][56] In 2023, the couple announced that they were expecting a third child.[57]
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